MovieChat Forums > Payback: Straight Up (2007) Discussion > Payback: Straight Out

Payback: Straight Out

posted 15 years ago by lvlr
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First off, I am a huge fan of Brian Helgeland (The director). I am also a huge fan of Mel Gibson (The Star, du!). And Payback has been one of my all-time-favorites since it's release.

Now I want to ask the honest question what can you possibly name about Payback: Straight Up, that is an improvement over the original.

(1) Payback, was unique in the genre of crime films in that it was dark, harsh, and violent while still maintaining a happy-go-lucky up-beat nature. (2) The original character for Porter was a smart, cynical, irritation, and terribly lovable character. (3) I'd say greatest of it's virtues (something every film ought to have) is it felt consistent with itself. (4) Oh, and a wicked sound-track!

(1) Payback Straight Up seems to have no consistency at all. (2) Many of the scene have voice-overs and flash-backs added to them so that the viewer can tell what's going on. (3) Porter has little if any character and no humor at all. He seems like the standard character from the standard crime movie. (4) The original action scenes were mostly all cut down, and the added action scenes seem cheap and under budgeted. (5) The end scene needed flash-back to even work! How is that conducive to a decent film. (6) If it had succeeded I think the best Payback Straight Up could have done would have been to reduce Payback to an average ordinary crime thriller one of a genre which is already over saturated.

[–] NickMichalak 13 years ago

The downside to this director's cut is really that it takes away all of Porter's cleverness. His cunning aspects which help him to manipulate everyone into giving him his money back. The film doesn't seem as clever overall. It ends up being a much more straight storyline which ends in numbskull gunfire. Porter doesn't out-smart anyone, now. He now just keeps knocking on the syndicate's door until they give in. I also don't get why Ms. Bronsan even bothered to have the big bag filled with money on that train platform. You don't intend to pay the man, you intend to kill him. So, why put a bag of money out in the open?

From my perspective, this cut of the film is not as smart, clever, or inventive of a storyline as the theatrical cut. If this was released in 1999, it wouldn't have become the modern classic that is has. There's little that's entertaining about it, and the change to a darker score over the previous lighter soundtrack of classy songs hurts it, too. At times, I think it gets to feeling too heavy with a lot of the levity gone.

-NJM